


what could have been

by pierpressure



Series: ZKFlashFebruary2021 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Ba Sing Se, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Mutual Pining, technically canon compliant but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29152677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pierpressure/pseuds/pierpressure
Summary: The war is over. The world is full of possibility. Katara reflects on it.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: ZKFlashFebruary2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2165919
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43
Collections: Zutara February Flash Fics





	what could have been

**Author's Note:**

> day 2: to resist
> 
> dee is my enabler.

The sky was alight with the bursting clouds of color and sound that filled Katara’s senses.

The fluttering in her stomach as Appa ascended towards the wispy clouds above was comfortingly familiar. Seated in her unofficially designated spot in the flying bison’s saddle, her friends surrounded her. Yet comfort eluded her.

A strange uneasiness seemed to rise within her at random intervals as if following the example of the fireworks. It counteracted the exhilaration of wild wind in the strands of hair brushing against her cheeks.

It weighed down the apples of her cheeks, making her smile feel more like a donned facsimile than an actual expression. 

Only letting the sense of subtle alarm reach her eyes, Katara attempted to remedy the sense of wrongness she could feel reverberating in her fingernails. When deep breaths and the crescent moons dug into her hands by filed nails were proved ineffective, she brought her unfocused eyes down from the sky.

As the ephemeral sparks of light became a distant presence in her peripheral vision, Katara was finally able to see. The source of her unrest wasn’t solely internal; it was seated right before her. 

The blackness of his hair matched the night sky, sans the twinkling skies. But his golden eyes were brighter than the cosmos around them. And they were staring directly at Katara.

Zuko’s scar and the paleness of his face were painted in the hues of the nearby explosions. The urge to trace the light-bathed skin of his jaw with her thumb remained buried.

This is where Katara would be selfish. This was the one thing that she would keep a secret, entirely for herself. 

From a reflection in a current-swept pool of water, it might look different. Katara would be painted as the protector of those she loved from information that would only hurt them. Although this reflection would ignore the person she most wished to protect.

The faint ghost of the smile that graced his lips could do nothing to sway the sadness in Katara’s furrowed brow. 

As she closed her eyes before they threatened to reveal what was already buried beneath dry ground, he didn’t look away. Katara could feel his stare tracing the outline of her very existence. 

She didn’t open her eyes. Katara didn’t want to see the reality they fabricated for her. Instead, she saw the ground crack and tremble as her deepest desires were unearthed.

It all flashed before her in an eternity and a moment.

***

Zuko’s wide grin as his hands wrapped around her head and pulled her into a deep kiss. The fiery taste of passion on his lips and love in his roaming fingertips. The hair with an undiscernible owner brushing against her neck.

***

Her hands buried in his soft hair that reminded her of ink-stained silk. Him taking the hand into his own and pressing gentle kisses into it. Her giggles ringing out as echoes with no intention of ending.

***

Zuko burying his hooded head into her parka-clad chest and refusing to excavate himself. The groaning of, “This is the only warm place in the South Pole, Katara. “

Katara’s lips pressing into the crown of his head without having to maneuver around his golden title.

***

Zuko's smile as he hiked up a bundle close to his face. The warmth growing in her chest as he faced her and closed the distance between them. The lazy sunset in the sky around them that bathed the objects of her affection in a hazy, warm glow. The tiny yawn of the little thing in his arms swallowed up by fabric that only left two brilliantly azure eyes visible.

***

The weight of his head upon her chest in the early light of morning peeking through slatted blinds. Zuko opening one eye to peek at the pile of children sprawled on top of them and blankets strewn across the floor. The grin they shared before feigning sleep again.

***

Zuko's arms wrapping around her waist as they swayed in the starlight under a night where Yue has disappeared in the sky. The faint whisperings in her ear meant only for Katara. A light in the background flicking on with firebending, followed by a masculine groan. 

***

Her hesitantly flinging open a closet full of reds and blues and furs, despite the constant testing of her willpower. The trembling fingers upon carved wooden grooves as Zuko's voice beckoned her back into a warm bed. The tension released when she finally let go and gave into his powers of persuasion.

***

More distant scenes of domestic content etched with wrinkle lines present in their faces. The weathered look of his scarred cheek exempt from all of the more obvious evidence of time. From the lines created by joyful smiles instead of anguished pain. 

***

What repeated most in the cycle of maddening bliss was the unwavering pride. The pride in his eyes even as they argued and opposed each other. His fierce approval of an equal, not just a wife or mother. The love that transcended Katara's decisions or the reality they lived in.

***

These were not promises but merely whispers of what could be. They tempted Katara beyond her mental strength, but she managed to resist such calls. They were an idealized version of a longing she would keep concealed. That she desperately reburied beneath the fertile earth with the displaced soil that allowed her these visions of torment. These glimpses of choices that she refused to make. 

Katara wasn't scared of the visions. It was any deviation from them that froze the blood within her beating heart. It would be far better to leave such a consuming, desperate love unexplored. Only in her mind could it be so perfect. 

It was better to leave the two of them in the realm of possibility, where they couldn’t be corrupted. She may love him, but only far too late.

Turning his gaze away from the hardened eyes of the boy across from her, Katara mourned what could have been.


End file.
